How do you know when you're ready to take the IELTS exam? Here's my advice:
- If you've never taken the exam before, take it as soon as you can. You'll be surprised how difficult a full day of testing is! Treat your first attempt as a practice test to get used to what it 'feels' like. Also, taking the exam is the best way to assess your level.
- Your next step could be to read about the best ways (techniques, methods) of doing each part of the exam; this is what I try to provide here on the website. Read my advice, analyse my model answers, and try to copy the way I approach each part of the test.
- Using what you have learnt, you need to practise and train yourself. This is not the same as testing yourself. Read this lesson to understand the difference.
- Finally, you need to do some tests and get feedback. You need to find out what you are doing wrong and what you need to do to improve. The best form of feedback is from a teacher who can read your essays or listen to you speak.
You will know that you are ready when you consistently get the score you need in all of your practice tests.
thanks simon for your advice really i appreciate it
Posted by: mohammd | Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 10:49
Dear Simon,
Thanks to you and your useful lessons.
Although I know you may not answer my question due to your lack of time, I will ask it anyway. Maybe you answer it on your Students Questions section.
Do I get penalty or wrong answer if I answer, True False Not Given Questions, Yes, No, on my answer sheet mistakenly?
Posted by: Abbas | Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 11:54
Dear Simon, Hi! I'm getting ready for the IELTS and my major problem is that I can't figure out if I have to leave out articles in the listening and reading parts. What I mean is - if I hear 'I bought a book yesterday.' And the question is 'What did John buy yesterday?' Which is the correct answer: 'book' or 'a book'? The problem is that in similar tasks some books give 'book' as the correct answer and some books say 'a book' while in some books '(a) book' alternative can be found. Or will all of them be marked as correct answers? PLEASE!!! HELP!!!! That's my stumbling block :((((
Posted by: Tatiana | Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 13:48
As an addition to Simon's post, I would suggest not to take IELTS 'as soon as you can', but try a pre-test or a past paper instead, otherwise you risk losing a considerable sum of money - IELTS is not a cheap exam. For instance, in my city it costs around 350 EUR, so I would not recommend it as a diagnostic test. Many exam centre offer pre-testing, which is usually free - find the nearest one to you and contact them as soon as you can.
Posted by: Stas | Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 16:47
Abbas,
Probably yes, you will be penalised. Be careful - Yes/No and True/False are different types of questions.
Tatiana,
pay attention to the word limit in the instructions to the task. If the task asks you to use 'no more than one word', then 'a book' will be a mistake. If it says 'two words' - both 'a book' and 'book' can be accepted, so the key gives '(a) book'.
Posted by: Stas | Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 16:51
anargurbanzade is my skype address. Who wants to train his/her speaking, add me please.
Posted by: anarqurbanzade | Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 23:47
Hi Abbas and Tatiana,
Stas (above) answers your questions well.
One more thing about articles: you should include them with singular countable nouns if the gap is in a full sentence (because the grammar needs to be correct). If the gap isn't part of a sentence, don't worry about the article.
Thanks for your help Stas!
Posted by: Simon | Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 11:18
You're welcome Simon!)
Sure, the grammar of the answer should always be correct. However, from my own experience and that of my students, in recent IELTS tests more often than not you need to fill in the gaps with ONE word only. But I've seen the tests with 2 words to be filled in, so mind the word limit!
Posted by: Stas | Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 16:38
Many thanks Simon for this post! Have a nice week! God bless you!!!
Posted by: Phuong Nguyen | Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 23:14
Yes, I agree Stas. It's very important to check the number of words allowed.
...
No problem Phuong!
Posted by: Simon | Monday, March 19, 2012 at 14:51
Simon and Stas! Thanks a lot!!! You've been really helpful!
Posted by: Tatiana | Monday, March 19, 2012 at 14:59
Hello Simon,
I have started studying for IELTS two weeks ago, and I'm taking the test in nearly a month. It will determine wether I get into college or not.
I have had no trouble with the oral and written comprehension, most of the time, in the practice exams I do by myself, I get aroun 38/40 and 36/40 respectively. I have spent a few months in canada and england studying and speaking english, so I don't believe I'll have any troubles with the speaking part, and in the writing part, the only problem I have is with using a large variety of vocabulary.
I have no idea how to confirm wether I am ready or not...And I don't really have the luxury to go and do a first attempt, because it's expensive and because I can't register two times for one exam.
Posted by: clairebear | Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 16:45
Hi Clairebear,
It might help to get some essays corrected:
http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2011/10/essay-correction.html
Posted by: Simon | Monday, April 01, 2013 at 18:33